An Empty Prison
by Little Stern
Summary: Human Lucia moved away, and is now only Mermaid Lucia. With Hanon and Rina gone, she is hurt, and taken in by Kaito, and all the city learns of her existence. How will she survive when she doesn't know who is friend or enemy in a strange place
1. The Harpoon

**(This is kind of confusing to start with, as it's from Kaito's point of view. Lucia actually did move away in episode 12/13, and now only lives as a mermaid. Hanon and Rina traveled to Hanon's kingdom for a short while, and Hippo is badly injured from a battle. So, Mermaid Lucia is left to wander on her own for awhile. Kaito's also feeling a bit lonely…)**

Kaito walked along the beach, staring out into the water. Ever since Lucia left, he'd been feeling kind of depressed. Also, the mermaid hadn't shown up since the time he had visited her at her castle. _Maybe she's mad I called her Lucia?_ He sighed, and found his feet wandering to the place where Lucia had tried to sing to him. He laughed softly at the memory. Then, the mermaid had shown up, and she had… His hand found its way up to his cheek. _Maybe she would return today…_

As he stood on the shore, looking out at the rock where the mermaid had once sat, he found himself strangely disappointed. _Why would she come?_ he told himself. _It's not as if I asked her to meet me here. Not that I really could._ He stifled a laugh, imagining himself asking a mermaid on a date._ Yeah right…_

"Kaito!" called a familiar voice. Kaito turned, heart lifting, to see the mermaid swim to the shore and pull herself onto the beach. She smiled at him, laughing. "It's good to see you."

Kaito smiled nervously back, still unsure how to act around a mermaid. "I thought… I thought…" He looked down at his feet. "I thought you were mad at me."

The mermaid's smile faltered. "Why would I be mad at you, Kaito?" She looked up at him, questioning.

"W-Well… I thought you didn't like how I called you Lucia. Because, well…" He scratched at the back of his neck. "Maybe you were jealous."

The mermaid stared at him for a moment, and Kaito was afraid he said something wrong and had actually made her mad. Then, all of a sudden, she started laughing. "Kaito! You make me laugh!"

Kaito stared at her. "Umm… what do you mean?"

The mermaid shook her head sadly at his ignorance. "A relationship between a mermaid and a human will never work out. If you find out my name, or who I am when I disguise myself as a human to walk among you, I will die. Therefore, we can never be truly together. However, you and a human will work out. So, I don't mind overly much if you decide you also like a human."

Kaito smiled with relief and sighed. "Thank you." Just then, he heard his friend Jiro calling him. "You have to go. They can't find out about you."

The mermaid nodded, and leaned forward. She kissed him gently on the cheek. "Good-bye." She turned and began to slide back into the ocean.

Kaito lunged forward, grabbing her arm. "Wait, umm… I have a question." He told her, surprised at his audacity. The mermaid turned and looked at him, her eyes bright. "Well… umm… You said I couldn't know your real name but could you give me a name that I can call you?" The words came out in a rush.

The mermaid smiled. "You can call me Pearle (per-al-ay) because I am the Pink Pearl Mermaid Princess." Kaito let go of her arm in surprise, and she swam away. _A Princess! I'm in love with a princess!_ He was amazed, but figured he should've guessed.

Jiro ran up behind him. "Who were you talking to?"

Kaito shook his head. "No one. I was talking to myself."

"O-kay." Jiro didn't seem convinced, but Kaito couldn't say anything else without giving anything away. Just then, a piercing scream was heard. It was loud, and seemed to go right through you. It was a beautiful scream, and sounded as if nature itself was screaming in agony.

"What the-" Kaito whirled around, and spotted a ship that seemed to come out of nowhere. There was a harpoon line coming out of down into the water, and Kaito's heart sank at what was at the other end. The sharp harpoon had been shot right into Pearle's tail. "Pearle!" yelled Kaito, and he dove into the water, swimming straight for Pearle.

The water around her was already turning red with her blood, and Pearle's struggles to get the harpoon out had gotten weaker and weaker. Kaito swam over to her. "Hold still!" he yelled over the roar of the boat's motor. Pearle, very weak already from blood loss, obeyed. Kaito grabbed the rope, down by the base of the harpoon, and pulled. Pearle let out another heart-wrenching scream of pain, and started to sink in the water. Kaito grabbed her and began pulling her to shore.

Jiro, standing on the beach, stood speechless as Kaito dragged the unconscious Pearle to shore. "Jiro, help me carry her. We need to get her to a hospital, or she'll die."

Jiro backed away slowly from Kaito, who was holding the unconscious and bloody Pearle. "B-But… She's a mermaid!"

Kaito glared at him. "I can see that. But, Pearle needs our help. I can't just sit here while she dies."

Jiro looked at the mermaid nervously, as if afraid she would wake up and bite him. "Pearle. Is that its name?"

Kaito cleared his throat. "Yes, **her** name is Pearle, but that's not important right now. Right now, we need to get her to the hospital." He glared at the spot where the ship had disappeared. "Thanks to them, she could die." He looked back at Jiro, pleading with his eyes. "Please. Help me take her to the hospital." He looked lovingly down at Pearle, and took her hand into his own.

Jiro noticed, and realized what was going on. "You love her, don't you?" Kaito was surprised that he'd figured it out so quickly, but nodded. "Kaito, then I'll help you. You love her, so…" He picked up her tail, being careful not to touch the bloody spots. Kaito smiled at him, and lifted up her other side. Slowly, awkwardly, they walked together, holding Pearle in between them.


	2. A Human

**(Really sorry about the long delay! My computer broke, so I couldn't put anything up here. Anyway, from now on I'm going to upload a new chapter every single Wednesday. I'd like to upload more than once a week, but since I'm doing three fanfics at once, I really can't. If I happen to not be able to upload a chapter, like if I'm on vacation or something like that, the week after I'll upload TWO chapters instead of one. Well, now I'll let you get to the chapter. Enjoy!!!)**

When the party of three reached the road, where there was a signal, Kaito used his cell phone to call the hospital. "Please!" he called into the phone. "She's hurt really bad!" After talking for awhile, he hung up, and sat down on the sidewalk next to Pearle. Jiro was sitting awkwardly on the other side. Thankfully, it was very early, so there was no one out.

Kaito picked up Pearle's head and set in his lap. Her eyelids fluttered, and she opened her eyes, looking up at Kaito. "Kaito…" she murmured, then winced in pain. "Why does my tail hurt so much?" Her skin was too pale to be healthy, and she was soaked with sweat. It was clear she was in a lot of pain.

Jiro was the one who answered that question. "You were hit by a harpoon."

Pearle sat up sharply at the sound of his voice, but then lay back against Kaito with the pain. He blushed, and felt his heart thumping painfully fast. He was very nervous around the mermaid. Pearle didn't notice, however, and focused her attention on Jiro. "Who… Who are you?"

"M-My name is Jiro," Jiro stammered, looking to Kaito for help. His face was beet red, even though he was not a shy sort of kid.

"He's my friend," explained Kaito, his face already red. Pearle looked at him, then looked at Jiro, and laughed lightly, wincing with pain as she did. "What?"

"You two… are blushing… very hard," Pearle took large breaths in between each phrase. "It is… very… cute." She sank back against Kaito again, who blushed even harder. He was sure that she could hear his heart beating frantically.

They sat in silence, both Kaito and Jiro watching Pearle, who was breathing hard, her skin growing ever pale. Kaito had already wrapped his shirt around her wound, but the blood had completely bled through, so Jiro added his shirt as well. Pearle's eyes grew feverish, and she stopped sweating, but started shivering instead. Kaito took her hand, willing with all his might for her to survive.

"Kaito…" Pearle looked up at him, her eyes clear now. "Help me up. Please."

To say Kaito was shocked was an understatement. "What? You'll lose even more blood! What are you th-"

Pearle interrupted him. "Please. I know what I'm doing." Her soft voice barely reached Kaito, but he nodded. He would value this one thing she asked of him. He slowly helped her up until she was "standing" on her tail, leaning heavily against Kaito. "Pink Pearl Voice," she whispered, and she suddenly wasn't leaning against Kaito anymore.

He wobbled and fell with the sudden imbalance of his weight, and a bright light appeared. He and Jiro shielded their eyes from it, and it flashed rainbow colors. After a few minutes, the light died down, and Kaito looked up to see Pearle standing before him. He blinked. She was _standing_! Pearle had totally changed. Her hair was still the same, and her eyes their blue, but instead of her pink tail she had two legs! She was wearing a short pink dress and pink gloves and boots. He'd seen her in that before, but thought this must be her human shape. And he had thought Lucia might be her!

Her wound was gone, as it had gone into her tail and not her legs, but she still looked woozy and pale from the loss of blood. She toppled over forwards, and Kaito just managed to catch her. Pearle looked up at him, not shivering or feverish. "Kaito…" Her eyes closed, and she was fast asleep.

Kaito sat there, stunned. Pearle was now a human. How? Jiro walked over to him, looking down at the unconscious Pearle. "Does she do that often?"

Kaito shrugged. "I've never seen her change before." He studied a blue microphone with a pink pearl that she had in her hand. He took it out and examined it. "I wonder what this is for." He put it in his pocket, and stood up, leaving Pearle on the ground. "Thanks for your help, Jiro."

Jiro shrugged. "No problem. And I won't tell anyone, either. Just invite me over a few times. She's someone I'd like to meet again." He whistled, and Kaito grinned.

"If she's there, you can see her." And with that, Jiro nodded and walked away, humming quietly to himself. Kaito sighed, and shook Pearle gently. "Wake up. We need to get over to my house." Pearle dragged herself awake, and weakly stood up. With Pearle's arm draped over Kaito's shoulder, Kaito practically carried her all the way to his house, the coming ambulance forgotten.

Inside, Kaito put Pearle down on his bed, and she fell asleep almost immediately, tired from today's events. Kaito sat in a chair next to the bed, and looked down at her sleeping face. He leaned back in his chair, suddenly tired. What was he thinking? He brought a mermaid into his house! When he went to school, she couldn't stay here all day! She couldn't go back into the water, not with that boat still lurking around. And she probably didn't know a thing about the human world! He sighed. Like it or not, he was going to have to bring her to school with him. A mermaid in school. He sighed again. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

As he went to make his lunch for school, he looked back at Pearle. _I wonder what mermaids eat. Fish, probably. And maybe kelp._ He sighed and grabbed his wallet. Time to go grocery shopping.


End file.
